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    Trying to start (again) - looking for advice

    Hello all. Former longtime HS2 user, mostly X10 plug-in devices. Back in early 2014, my PC got struck by lightning, and then with job relocation we moved across country, and I just never got around to setting things up again. Well, we recently relocated again, this time hopefully for the log run, and recently bought a new construction house. The house came with a Kwikset Z-Wave deadbolt and a SmartThings Hub, and Lyric thermostats.

    So now that it's all set up and I've played around with their app controls and with Alexa, I got curious about Homeseer again and integrating into a single ecosystem, thinking about all the possibilities. But so much has changed. I just don't know where to even start, and that includes hardware to run Homeseer (I installed the trial on my PC, but it slows things down, so that's not a long-term solution).

    Any getting started (again) advice would be welcome. TIA.

    #2
    I have a hometroller, and think I want to move over to my gaming laptop which could probably run everything better. The locks and lyric is probably zigbee, so it’s basically junk. Z-wave is the HS primary protocol these days. Michael McSharry seems to have found a way to work with Zigbee through MQTT, but if you’re going to build out a network, you need to pick a poison and start chugging. And don’t do what I did and buy a bunch of zwave switches from Home Depot, they don’t update the controller. Ohh, and automate, don’t jump on the Alexa bandwaggon, stay away from cloud ecosystems in general.

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      #3
      Ideally you go with a dedicated system for the controller, be it a Pi, or a NUC for more power, but if you already have a server running smooth 24/7 then adding another VM on it to run HomeSeer is perfectly fine as well. On ESXi a guest VM can access a USB Z-Wave stick, but you might want to consider going with a HomeSeer Z-Net LAN based Z-Wave controller interface.

      Expanding your network with sensors you could do with Z-Wave as well, and there is a wide variety available, but make sure you stick with open minded companies, such as HomeSeer, AeonLabs/AeoTec, ZooZ, Dome, etc. (all those that publish firmware updates and list HomeSeer as one of the systems they support) and stay away from those that want to lock you in their ecosystem.

      There is a big IoT cloud battle going on and you don't want to end up with devices that 10 years from now all of a sudden stop working on competitors controllers (like what Google recently did to Nest devices). As tome10 mentioned it is generally better to stay away from most cloud services, so that in worst-case scenario if your internet fails you still have a "smart" home. Having Amazon's Alexa/Echo or Apple's Siri/Homekit control HomeSeer is fine, but make sure it works fine without them as well.

      Zigbee is another standard and you can run it alongside Z-Wave on HomeSeer, and it allows access to a large range of other devices, where some might be a lot cheaper than comparable Z-Wave ones. The popular Philips Hue lights for example use Zigbee, but at the same time there are Z-Wave RGB/RGBW bulbs or LED controllers available as well.

      Saw a cheap USB controller interface at Amazon that supports both Z-Wave and Zigbee, but it is a new player on the market so no idea on reliability.

      Whatever device you find, search that model/name on this forum and first read what others experiences are, and then decide on that.

      Comment


        #4
        The smart stuff installer that set everything up said the lock was Z-Wave, but I guess that doesn't mean much. Is there any way to tell which protocol it uses?

        The Lyrics are working through a third party app with limited functionality. For the time being, that's good enough.

        My "goal" with the Alexa functionality is as a nice to have. I do want everything to actually work on its own accord. It's a big house, and I have kids who leave lights and fans on all the time. So 90% of what I want is light and fan control.

        Thanks for the helpful advice.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by nolesrule View Post
          ... Is there any way to tell which protocol it uses?
          Could probably tell by the model number of the lock? Or by logging into the Smart Things hub.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by drhtmal View Post

            Could probably tell by the model number of the lock? Or by logging into the Smart Things hub.
            I took off the cover and it said the model number is 450241. My google fu must be bad because I could not find anything definitive.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by nolesrule View Post

              I took off the cover and it said the model number is 450241. My google fu must be bad because I could not find anything definitive.
              Here's the link to the details for your lock. It is a Kwikset 910 (Z-Wave Plus)

              https://fccid.io/NUL450241CBR/User-M...al-910-3256791

              Honeywell Lyric thermostat's are Wifi and require their cloud and mobile app for remote access. I think there is a HS plugin currently to integrate.

              HS has primary support and good support for Z-Wave. Zigbee is provided via third party apps and their integrations with third party controllers. JowiHue uses decONZ, Hubitat uses the Hubitat hub, the MQTT solution uses the zigbee2mqtt open source project and firmware updated dongle. There is no "great" or "native" Zigbee solution for HS yet.


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                #8
                Originally posted by simplextech View Post

                Here's the link to the details for your lock. It is a Kwikset 910 (Z-Wave Plus)

                https://fccid.io/NUL450241CBR/User-M...al-910-3256791

                A littel further research on fccid.io... Looks like I have the 916. The model number I provided is specifically for the Z-Wave Plus module used by the 910, 912, 914 and 916. Based on the keypad, my model is the 916.
                Honeywell Lyric thermostat's are Wifi and require their cloud and mobile app for remote access. I think there is a HS plugin currently to integrate.

                I've been playing around withthe plugin as part of the trial. The functionality is limited, but for now I'm using the geofencing capabilities to control temperatures anyway.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Welcome back!

                  If you used the old X10 motion sensors with the light level detection and used light level to feature the z-wave units will disappoint you. I'm not aware of any which do more than report the light level at regular intervals. The X10 ones would send a signal when the change was sudden as in if a light was turned on in a dark room. Otherwise, you will see a big difference in the capabilities of the technologies over x10.

                  I use different protocols. MQTT for some custom DIY stuff done with arduino boards, z-wave, and a couple other things when z-wave isn't available. But I have everything linked back to HomeSeer as well. That way I have a central knowledge of the states if everything. I moved up to HS Pro but you may not want to. Look at how many of the HomeSeer plugins you will use, as in HS Touch IF you think you will use it. Definitely add in the z-wave stuff, and see how much you would spend.

                  The Raspberry Pi platform is fairly impressive. I have Mosquitto running on one as an MQTT broker and the Ubiquiti Unifi key software running on it as well. HomeSeer and HS Touch are running on an old Dell pizza box system and has had no issues. I'm surprised you are claiming a slow down from running HomeSeer on your PC. Of course, if it is a general use unit then you may want HomeSeer on something which is more of an in a rack/corner and forgotten unit.

                  If you have a Google Home unit, these work well also. I don't have Alexa but they are similar. Regardless, it is interesting to see when voice is used by my family and when it isn't. My wife won't use it at all. She and I both have Pixel phones with the same voice assistant. I use voice from the Home units and phone a good bit. Or daughter uses voice daily. Explore it and see where it goes for you.
                  Karl S
                  HS4Pro on Windows 10
                  1070 Devices
                  56 Z-Wave Nodes
                  104 Events
                  HSTouch Clients: 3 Android, 1 iOS
                  Google Home: 3 Mini units, 1 Pair Audios, 2 Displays

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